# People who look better after age 40 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 10, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932 "2011-02-10T19:22:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932/41 "2011-02-13T01:51:43Z")
> [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > Surely you can’t be serious. There has never been a finer looking crumpet than the young Michelle Phillips. And to say she looks better now… Granted, Michelle Phillips was 65 years old in that second photo, so to compare her with her 23 year old self was stretching it. Let me offer instead, [Michelle Phillips in her 40s](http://startrekreview.wordpress.com/2008/09/03/star-trek-the-next-generation-123-well-always-have-paris/). ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932/42 "2011-02-13T02:29:08Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > [Really?](http://www.finebooksmagazine.com/issue/201007/graphics/auction-young_winston.jpg) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932/43 "2011-02-13T03:22:42Z")
Donald Sutherland. I thought he was goofy looking, now he’s distinguished ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932/44 "2011-02-13T03:41:10Z")
Madonna. I was never crazy about her appearance when she first became famous, but she hit her peak at right about 40 in the “Ray of Light” era (late 1990s). ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932/45 "2011-02-13T05:42:13Z")
I just thought of a good one. Don’t want to jump through hoops right now to link to pics because I’m on my phone, but . . . Mary Louise Parker. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932/46 "2011-02-13T05:49:40Z")
Weird Al Yankovic. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932/47 "2011-02-13T05:55:24Z")
Julia Louis Dreyfus. Look at the early season of Seinfeld, and compare those to that later seasons and how she looks now. A lot of it was the God-awful outfits and bad hair, but still. ---
**Author:** ![beartato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9d8465/32.png) [@beartato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beartato)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932/48 "2011-02-13T08:34:18Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > A lot of it was the God-awful outfits and bad hair, but still. I think most of these will be. Women who were in their twenties and thirties during the 1980s and early 1990s would have a hard time looking worse now than they did then. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932/49 "2011-02-13T08:49:28Z")
Hillary Clinton. [Before](http://niqnaq.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/hillary-clinton-young.jpg) and [after](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/01/15/2009-01-15_hillary_clinton_clears_first_hurdle_as_s.html). ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932/50 "2011-02-13T09:26:15Z")
I’ve been watching American Idol lately, and I don’t remember Jennifer Lopez (41)ever looking this good before. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932/51 "2011-02-13T09:38:39Z")
Leonard Cohen–he was a weird looking young man, but he’s much better now Sigourney Weaver–tremendous Tom Cruise–never liked the babyface thing he had going as a younger man. Phillip Michael Hall–he was so scrawny and nerdy, but he has only gotten better as he ages Susan Sarandan–sexy sexy sexy, time has been kind to her Sharon Osbourne–not gorgeous, but infinitely better than she used to be. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932/52 "2011-02-13T14:42:37Z")
Some of this (HRC is a great example, Tina Fey is another) is going from someone who dresses themselves without much awareness, to someone who has been coached and styled by professionals. Not that they aren’t good looking people, but they’d have been good looking younger with money and advice that they didn’t yet have access to. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932/53 "2011-02-13T15:17:48Z")
That was a bad photo of HRC with her, as Dangerosa pointed out, styled unfortunately. Young Hillary [was](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qsjlYtt8u4E/SZbZu2M0lgI/AAAAAAAAEB0/hE7Xw8IkAIA/s1600-h/HillaryClinton.jpg) [quite](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1028/1326685086_0703a6a5c3_m.jpg) [pretty](http://www.twolia.com/blogs/zoboxrox/files/2008/12/young_hillary_clinton.jpg) in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932/54 "2011-02-13T16:03:45Z")
When I saw the pictures of a high-school age Sarah Palin in her first book, I was impressed that she wasn’t especially attractive. Not bad-looking or anything, just not as hot as I was expecting, based on how good she looks now. The way she plays off her looks today (and the spoiled-brat vibe she gives off when she doesn’t get what she wants) made me think she’d always been like that. Obviously, by the time she entered beauty pageants, things had changed. But there must have been a time when she wasn’t just getting by on her looks. It’s one of the few things that’s ever improved my opinion of her. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932/55 "2011-02-13T16:40:16Z")
Brian Eno (now aged 62) The emaciated Bowiesque look just didn’t work for him back then Who needs hair anyway? [http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/brian-eno](http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/brian-eno) > **[個別指導塾に通うと苦手科目を克服できる｜個別指導塾のお役立ち情報　2023年8月更新](https://www.uraniumcafe-the.com/)** > > Description of the page less than 150 characters ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932/56 "2011-02-13T18:24:07Z")
Gillian Anderson has gone from cute-in-a-nerdy-way to smokin’-fuckin’-hot. I think growing her hair out has much to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932/57 "2011-02-13T20:43:39Z")
Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, and Joan Baez. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932/58 "2011-02-14T08:24:28Z")
Second Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She was kind of doughy plain when she was in her 20s on SNL, but when she hit 30 on through her 40s, she got really cute. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932/59 "2011-02-14T13:20:20Z")
Isn’t the poster boy for this thread [Sean Connery](http://images.google.com/images?q=Sean%20Connery&biw=800&bih=434)? CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![eno801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@eno801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eno801)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932/60 "2011-02-14T15:07:26Z")
maybe it’s cuz I always had a thing for her but I nominate Judy Davis [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-look-better-after-age-40/570932.md?page=4)